Structure for mounting a troughing idler assembly



Oct. 12, 1965 w. c. KNAPP ETAL STRUCTURE FOR MOUNTING A TROUGHING IDLERASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 3, 1962 ma, mww m w mW H m2 f X/nfw l ck w w W Oct. 12, 1965 W. C. KNAPP ETAL STRUCTURE FOR MOUNTING ATROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY Filed April 3, 1962 Ill 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent 3,211,277 STRUCTURE FOR MOUNTING A TROUGHING IDLERASSEMBLY Walter C. Knapp and Roy F. Lo Presti, Chicago, 111., assignorsto Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Filed Apr. 3, 1962, Ser. No. 184,846 8 Claims. (Cl. 198-192)This invention relates to a method for mounting a troughing idlerassembly on a sideframe wire rope conveyor, and to a structure forperforming the method.

An object of this invention is a method to more simply mount a troughingidler assembly in a flexible sideframe wire rope conveyor.

Another object is a method for mounting a troughing idler assembly bysuspending the assembly between inwardly positioned wire ropes.

Another object is a method for mounting a troughing idler assembly byinwardly flexing the wire ropes and raising the conveying reach of anendless conveyor belt.

Another object is a method for replacing troughing idler assemblies in awire rope sideframe conveyor while the endless belt is running.

Another object is a method for replacing a troughing idler assembly byinwardly flexing the wire ropes, rais ing the conveying reach of arunning conveyor belt, replacing the assembly between the ropes, andthen returning the inwardly flexed wire ropes and the raised conveyingreach to their normal positions.

Another object is a method for mounting a troughing idler assembly byfixing an elongated member to the wire ropes, inwardly flexing the wireropes by means fixed to the member and raising the conveying reach of anendless conveyor belt.

Another object is a structure for mounting a troughing idler assembly ona flexible sideframe wire rope conveyor.

Another object is a structure for mounting a troughing idler assemblywhich is connected to wire ropes, and which has a pivotal arm forengaging and inwardly flexing a wire rope.

Another object is a structure for mounting a troughing idler assembly inwhich one end of a shaft engages the wire ropes and the other end of theshaft has a pivotal arm with means for engaging and inwardly flexing awire rope.

Another object is a structure for mounting a troughing idler assembly inwhich an extending shaft has means at one end for engaging one wirerope, means on the other end for inwardly flexing the other wire rope,and means intermediate the ends for raising the conveying reach of anendless conveyor belt.

The foregoing objects may now be attained by the invention which will bedescribed in detail and which is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of the structure positioned between stands of aflexible sideframe wire rope conveyor,

FIGURE 2 is a view along line 22 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a side view partially in section of one end of the shaftshowing the cylinder member, pivotal arm, and rope engaging means, and

FIGURE 4 is a partial top plan view of the pivotal arm engaging the wirerope.

Like numerals in the various views will refer to the same elements.

FIGURE 1 shows the mounting structure fixed to laterally spaced wireropes and 11. The wire ropes are seated in rope seats or books 12 and 13which are fixed to the top of spaced support stands 14 and 15. Asideframe wire rope conveyor has a series of such support stands alongits length. The wire ropes extend along 3,211,277 Patented Oct. 12, 1965"Ice the length of the conveyor and support therebetween at spacedpositions troughing idler assemblies. The troughing idler assembly,shown in phantom outline in FIG- URE 1, includes wing rollers 16, 17which flank a center roller 18. The troughing idler assembly in phantomoutline is shown as having cradles 21 and 22 under the wing rollers, andrope seats or hooks 19 and 20 for engaging the wire ropes. The wingrollers and center roller rotate about dead shafts which are not shown,and the rollers may be connected to one another by articulating linkssuch as 23 and 24. In the operating sideframe conveyor, the troughingidler assembly carries the conveying reach 31 of an endless conveyorbelt. The return reach 32 of the belt is generally carried by a returnroller 33 which is spaced by brackets such as at 34, 35 to a crossbrace36 extending between the stands. The conveying reach 31 in FIGURE 1 isshown supported on an element of the mounting structure, but in theoperation, the conveying reach 31 will ride on the wing and centerrollers.

The mounting structure is shown as having a shaft 41 extending beyondsupport stands 14 and 15. Towards each end of the shaft 41 arepositioned cylinder arrangements shown generally as 42 and 43.Intermediate the ends of the shaft is an elevated roller 44 which isspaced from shaft 41 by brackets 45 and 46. The roller 44 rotates arounda dead shaft 47. The brackets may be positioned by spacers 25, 26 fixedto shaft 41 by rollpins 27 and 28 and engaging matching holes in thespacer and shaft. Fixed to cylinder arrangement 43 is pivotal lever orarm 51 which is connected at its inner end to a wire rope engagingsheave or grooved wheel 61. Arm 51 is apertured at 52 to receive a keyrod 53 which immovably fixes lever 51 by engaging one of the bores suchas at 54 in the end of shaft 41. A stop 49 positions key rod 53 betweenthe lever arm and the shaft.

The cylinder arrangement 43 and its adjoining parts may be better seenin the section view of FIGURE 3. The cylinder arrangement is shown ashaving a sleeve 50 in which shaft 41 turns. One end of the sleeveadjoins or abuts a fixed spacer or stop 55 which is fixed to shaft 41 bya rollpin or the like 56 engaging matching holes in the spacer andshaft. The outer end of the sleeve 50 is integrally joined to an annularband 57 which is separated from stop or spacer 58 by a rubber gasket 59.The gasket or equivalent material permits rotation of abutting stop 58with respect to gasket 59 when shaft 41 is turned, but providessuflicient frictional resistance so that the shaft does not freelyrotate within the sleeve.

Sleeve 50 has a passageway through which is inserted lever pin 63. Thelever pin is fixed in the sleeve 50 by weld means or the like 64. Pinsleeve 65 is placed between lever arm 51 and sleeve 50. Lever arm 51 maythen pivotally move on the top edge of pin sleeve 65. The arm 51 isrestricted from axial movement by pin sleeve 65 on one side and stop orwasher 66 on the other side. The stop 66 is held in place by locking pin67 inserted through a bore in the lever pin. The arm 51 is therebypermitted to freely pivot in a horizontal plane but is restricted forany axial movement.

The inner end of lever arm 51 supports a sheave or grooved wheel 61. Arm51 receives sheave pin 70' which is fixed to the arm by welds orequivalent means 71. The grooved wheel or sheave 61 rotates about pin 70and is held in place by stop or snap ring 72 which engages an annulargroove in the bottom of pin 70. Sheave 61 has a continuous groove 73which engages wire rope 11. The lever arm 51 is pivotally moved in ahorizontal plane to engage the rope and to flex the rope inward, asindicated by phantom outline in FIGURE 4.

When the rope is fully flexed as shown, then aperture 52 in arm 51 issuperimposed over bore 54 in shaft 41 to receive anchoring rod 53. Thealigned position of aperture 52 is shown by the round phantom outline.The key rod locks the lever arm 51 in line with shaft 41. The flexing ofrope 11 by the sheave also causes rope to be flexed because the distancebetween rope seat 38 and sheave 61 is shortened as the sheave ispivoted.

Cylinder arrangement 42 on the other end of the shaft is flanked by aspacer or stop on one end and an annular band separated by a rubbergasket or the like from another spacer on the other end in a mannersimilar to that of cylinder arrangement 43. Arrangement 42 has a sleeve40 in which shaft 41 may turn. Fixed to sleeve 40 by weld 39 orequivalent means is a rope seat or hook 38 to engage wire rope 10.

The shaft 41 is adapted to be turned or rotated within sleeves 40 and 50when a turn rod such as 60 (FIGURE 4) is inserted through one of theapertures such as 54 in the end of the shaft. The shaft may likewise berotated by inserting a turn rod in an aperture such as 48 on the otherend of the shaft. It will be apparent that key rod 53 may also be usedfor this purpose. The sleeves 40 and 50 have an internal diameter largerthan the diameter of the shaft to permit the shaft to turn or rotate inthe sleeves. Spacers 55 and 58 on member 43 and the correspondingspacers of member 42 move with the shaft because they are fixed theretoby rollpins such as 56, 62 engaging matching holes in the spacers andshaft. The shaft may have other holes spaced along its length such as at37 to receive spacers or stops so the same structure may be used forbelts of different widths. For example, the mounting structure shown maybe used with 36-inch belts and adjusted for use with 42-inch belts.

When the shaft is rotated, the brackets 45 and 46 and the roller 44fixed therebetween also move with the shaft. The turning or rotatingshaft 41 raises, as indicated by phantom outline in FIGURE 2, to anelevated position and thereby raises the conveying reach of the endlessbelt 31. This permits access between the reaches of the belt tofacilitate removal and replacement of a defective idler assembly. Duringthe foregoing operation, the belt may continue to run, and the roller 44provides a rolling surface for such a running belt.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

The method and structure described herein may be adapted and used in anumber of ways, such as mounting troughing assemblies in new conveyors,and replacing damaged or worn assemblies in working conveyors. Aparticular advantage resides in employing the method and structure forreplacing defective assemblie in a running conveyor. In particular, itis possible to remove and replace a troughing assembly without shuttingdown the operating conveyor. In many mine operations, surge loads ofcoal are placed on the running belt and such loads are separated byextended belt surfaces which carry no load. A defective assembly may bequickly removed and replaced between such surge loads on the runningbelt. The use of the method and structure for such an .operation shallbe described, but it is understood that such a teaching may be carriedover and extended to other uses.

A troughing idler assembly may be removed and a new assembly may bemounted in the conveyor by placing an elongated member, such as shaft41, between stands 14 and 15, and engaging a rope seat 38 in one end ofthe shaft around rope 10. Rope seat 38, in turn, is fixed to cylinderarrangement 42 on one end of shaft 41. The other end of shaft 41 has acylinder arrangement 43 having means to engage and flex wire rope 11towards the other wire rope, and to be firmly engaged with such a flexedwire rope. The cylinder arrangements have been shown herein as havingsleeves 40 and around the opposed ends of shaft 41. Such sleeves do notmove laterally along shaft 41 because of fixed spacers such as and 58 oneach side of sleeve 50. Sleeve 50 is preferably adapted for increasingfrictional contact with stop or spacer 58 by placing a rubber gasket orthe like 59 between annular band 57 fixed to one edge of the sleeve andsaid spacer. The gasket is squeezed somewhat to attain frictionalcontact.

When shaft 41 is initially engaged to rope 10 by rope seat 38, theelevated roller 44 is in a generally lowered position. A turn rod 60 isinserted in a bore in the end of shaft 41 so that the length of the rodcan be grasped for turning and rotating the shaft. Lever arm 51 ispivotally turned on pin 63 fixed to sleeve 50 of cylinder arrangement43. The sheave 61 connected to the inner end of arm 51 makes initialcontact with the non-flexed wire rope 11 which is laterally spaced inparallel fashion from wire rope 10. The lever arm 51 is pivoted aboutpin 63 so that wire rope 11 is moved towards wire rope 10 or is flexedinwards as indicated by the phantom outline of FIGURE 4. This actionflexes both ropes towards each other. Shaft 41 is then rotated betweensurge loads on the running belt by turning rod 60, and this moves roller44 from a generally lowered position to the raised position shown inFIGURES 1 and 2. This movement raises the conveying reach 31 of therunning belt from the troughing assembly, as indicated schematically inphantom outline, to the raised position as shown in the view of FIGURE2. The lever arm 51 will be aligned generally along its length with nowrotated shaft 41 and aperture 52 in lever 51 will be superimposed overaperture 54 in shaft 41. A key rod 53 may then be placed in theapertures to fix lever 51.

The defective troughing idler assembly may then be removed between surgeloads on the belt by disengaging rope seat or hook 19 from cradle 21 onone wing roller shaft from wire rope 10 as indicated by the operatorshand in the phantom outline. Rope seat or hook 20 from cradle 22 underwing roller shaft 17 is then disengaged from rope 11. A new assembly ismounted by first securing hook 20 to rope 11 and then placing hook 19about rope 10. The mounted troughing idler assembly will assume anexaggerated bowed configuration because of the flexed ropes.

The shaft may again be rotated in the cylinder arrangements with thehelp of turn rod 60 until elevated roller 44 is lowered and theconveying reach 31 of the running belt is brought into seatingengagement on the properly positioned troughing idler assembly. Thesheave 61 is then disengaged from wire rope 11 which returns the rope toits normal position and thereby pulls the troughingassembly apart sothat it assumes its predetermined bowed configuration.

The operator may selectively change the sequence of the steps describedin practicing the method to suit convenience or a particular mountingassembly. It is possible for a single operator to rotate shaft 41 byworking the turn rod 60 with the one hand and flex the wire ropes byworking the lever 51 with the other hand. Another operator mayalternatively turn the shaft at the other end. The key rod 53 may thenbe inserted to immovably fix the lever arm, and the assembly may bereplaced. The cylinder arrangements 42 and 43 may be placed at variouspositions along the length of the shaft by fixing spacers such as 55 and58 at the various holes along the shaft such as at 37. The elevatedroller 44 may likewise be varied in position. It is seen that a mountingmay be adapted for troughing idler assemblies of differing widths.

The foregoing invention can now be practiced by those skilled in theart. Such skilled persons will know that the invention is notnecessarily restricted to the particular embodiments presented herein.The scope of the invention is to be defined by the terms of thefollowing claims as given meaning by the preceding description.

We claim:

1. A structure adapted to prepare a flexible side frame wire ropeconveyor with endless belt for removing and mounting a troughing idlingassembly which includes, in combination,

an elongated member extending between laterally spaced wire ropes of theside frame conveyor, a first cylinder arrangement on one end of theelon- .gated member with means to engage one wire rope,

a second cylinder arrangement on the other end of the elongated member,said elongated member rotatable within the cylinder arrangements,

means on the el-ongated member to contact and raise a part of theendless belt when the elongated member is .turned,

an arm pivota'lly connected to the second cylinder arrangcment,

and means on the arm to engage and flex the adjacent wire towards theother wire rope so that a troughing idler assembly may be mounted on theropes, and the wires may resume an unflexed position when the structureis removed.

2. The structure of claim *1 further characterized in that the means toengageably move the wire rope is a rotatable sheave.

3. The structure of claim 1 further characterized in that the cylinderarrangements may be adjustably positioned along the length of theelongated member.

4. The structure of claim .1 further characterized by and includingmeans to releasably fix the arm so that it will maintain the wire ropesposition while the troughing id-ler assembly is being mounted.

5. The structure of claim 4 further characterized by and includingimmovable fixed spacers to position the cylinder arrangements on theshaft.

6. The structure of claim 4 further characterized by and includingturning means on the rod to rotate said shaft.

'7. A structure adapted to prepare a flexible side frame wire ropeconveyor with endless belt for removing and mounting a troughing idlerassembly which includes, in combination,

a shaft extending between laterally spaced wire ropes of the side framec-onveyor,

a first cylinder arrangement on one end of the shaft,

a rope seat to said cylinder arrangement,

a second cylinder arrangement on the other end of the shaft, said shaftrotatable within the cylinder arrangements,

a roller attached to the shaft to contact and raise a part of the beltwhen the shaft is rotated,

a movable lever arm on the shaft and a rotatable sheave on the lever armto engage the adjacent wire rope so that a troughing idler assembly maybe mounted on the wire ropes and the wires may resume an unflexedposition when the structure is removed.

8. A structure for mounting a troughing idler assembly on a flexiblesi-deframe conveyor which includes, in combination,

an annular shaft extending between laterally spaced wire ropes,

a cylinder on one end of the shaft positioned by spacers immovably fixedto the shaft, a rope seat fixed to the cylinder,

a second cylinder on the other end of the shaft positioned on the shaftby spacers immovably fixed to the shaft, a lever arm pivotally fixed tothe cylinder for horizontal movement, said shaft adapted to be turnedwithin the cylinders,

a rotatable sheave fixed to the lever arm to engage and iflex theadjacent rope when the arm is moved,

an elevated roller intermediate the ends of the shaft, said rolleradapted to be elevated when the shaft is rotated, and spaced from theshaft by fixed brackets,

means to rotate the sh-aft, and means to immovably fix the lever arm.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 592,099 10/97Schwalm 254-198 1,530,499 3/25 Knode 198-192 1,691,697 11/28 Lockwood etal 254- 2,085,599 6/37 Paluch 254-44 X 2,678,803 5/54 Wilkerson 254-1143,101,192 8/63 Stinson 198-192 FOREIGN PATENTS 669,534 12/38 Germany.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. WILLIAM B. LA BORDE, Examiner.

1. A STRUCTURE ADAPTED TO PREPARE A FLEXIBLE SIDE FRAME WIRE ROPECONVEYOR WITH ENDLESS BELT FOR REMOVING AND MOUNTING A TROUGHING IDLINGASSEMBLY WHICH INCLUDES, IN COMBINATION, AN ELONGATED MEMBER EXTENDINGBETWEEN LATERALLY SPACED WIRE ROPES OF THE SIDE FRAME CONVEYOR, A FIRSTCYLINDER ARRANGEMENT ON ONE END OF THE ELONGATED MEMBER WITH MEANS TOENGAGE ONE WIRE ROPE, A SECOND CYLINDER ARRANGEMENT ON THE OTHER END OFTHE ELONGATED MEMBER, SAID ELONGATED MEMBER ROTATABLE WITHIN THECYLINDER ARRANGEMENTS, MEANS ON THE ELONGATED MEMBER TO CONTACT ANDRAISE A PART OF THE ENDLESS BELT WHEN THE ELONGATED MEMBER IS TURNED, ANARM PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO THE SECOND CYLINDER ARRANGEMENT, AND MEANS ONTHE ARM TO ENGAGE AND FLEX THE ADJACENT WIRE TOWARDS THE OTHER ROPE SOTHAT A TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY MAY BE MOUNTED ON THE ROPES, AND THEWIRES MAY RESUME AN UNFLEXED POSITION WHEN THE STRUCTURE IS REMOVED.